While a recent Morgan Stanley poll showed that most people find Netflix has the best original content, with HBO a close second, Amazon’s video offerings came in a distant third place. This move could help improve Amazon's standing by exposing its shows to a wider audience.

Amazon has been producing some excellent TV shows over the last couple of years, including “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle,” which have won Emmy Awards and Golden Globe awards, respectively.

The key to Amazon’s strategy here, in competing with bigger streaming services like Netflix and HBO, is flexibility. Previously, Amazon’s massive video catalogue was only accessible if you owned an Amazon Prime membership; you could access some videos for free, but the best stuff was behind the Prime paywall. But now, it looks like Amazon is going after the biggest audience possible for its shows, which is good for Amazon and great for customers, since this will undoubtedly create more competition amongst the streaming services.

Speaking of flexibility, Amazon announced something else on Monday: People can now become Amazon Prime members on a monthly basis instead of an annual basis. Amazon Prime still costs $99 a year in the US, but customers can now pay $10.99 a month if they don’t want Prime for a full year. In my opinion, it pays to have an annual Amazon Prime membership, but it's nice to see that Amazon is now willing to accommodate customers that don't want an annual subscription.